Episode 46 – 29.10.17

PLAYLIST 46

41 Rooms’ Playlist 46 is 88% vinyl friendly. Impressive.

The Hurricane Ophelia Set! A day after I uploaded show 45 I experienced my first hurricane. Mostly, it wasn’t what some experience in other parts of the world but with no internet my time was best spent getting show 46 under way early. In the bunker at midnight…

The fifth track from this album to make it to 41 Rooms, which maybe, is as much a testament to the influence of Daniel Miller/Mute as it is to the band’s own need to move forward with a new lease of life.

07.33

REDMATH – Expectations – Self-Titled mini LP – Tribboo Records – 1985

Yet another track showcased on 41 Rooms that had it surfaced a few years earlier – and from a UK label – it might have seen the band fair better.

09.53

THE PRETENDERS – Private Life – Self-Titled LP – Real Records – 1980

I’m not really a Pretenders fan but Chrissie Hynde certainly has a very distinctive vocal, and for me, this oozes as much style as Grace Jones’ original.

15.56

CLOCK DVA – Eternity In Paris – Advantage, LP – Polydor – 1983

Five years into their existence at this point – and with a move to a major label – they were still sounding dark, broody and sinister, though that might be the reason this was their only release on Polydor. 😉

A great many who heard Peely’s years on Radio 1 will have had a favourite band putting in better versions of tracks in his sessions than they managed in their own productions. Maybe there was something in the urgency of those JP Maida Vale visits (usually three or four tracks needing to be done and dusted in eight-ten hours) that kept things focussed, and for me this was always one of the top ‘Peel’ versions.

Bristol and Bridport in the area. Harvey was well into her own career when she appeared on this and she’s never struck me as the sort of artist to guest on anything without substance. Meaningful stuff!

I haven’t changed my descriptive powers much as I see my diary entry for this gig rreads, simply ‘Eyeless were beautiful‘. Ha!

39.20

BONOBO – The Plug– Animal Magic, 2LP – Tru Thoughts – 2000

With a nod back to the trip hop of a few years earlier.

44.29

DAVID CROSBY – Traction In The Rain – If I Could Only Remember My Name, LP – Atlantic – 1971

Couple together the era, area (California) and the drugs floating around, that album title might have been particularly apt. Crosby’s vox possibly the major trump card in the CSN&Y sound? One for Dave ‘Dobber’ Lewis and Beth Hirsch.

47.50

HERITAGE ORCHESTRA – Sky Breaks – 12″ – Brownswood Recordings – 2007

Regularly drafted in for big nu jazz/soul-type productions, this track shows them more than capable of equaling some of their peers.

It’s a tall order following on from the Mercury Prize nominated debut album, Northern Sulphuric Soul, but fifteen years later and there are some damn fine sounds on here.

01.03.04

MOLOKO – Take My Hand – extra track, CD single only – Echo – 2003

Could have been a major album track but such was Moloko’s quality, they practically hid this.

01.09.53.

MUMMER – Hey, You Did – 12″ b-side – Klein Records – 2006

Seeing as I have a few 12″ on this Vienna-based label I should delve deeper into their vast back catalogue. More trip-hop’y vibes from a later period.

01.13.22

PRINCE – Sign Of The Times – 7″ – Paisley Park – 1987

The first time I heard this was, rather surprisingly, on John Peel’s radio show but he knew this had some real ‘worth’, ‘character’ whatever – the sort of attributes often long gone when artists reach mass acceptance.

Yet more low slung beats seeming to fit. It must be that storm outside.

01.21.07

CHE – Be My (Powerstation) (Swarthy Mix) – 12″ – Logarythmn – 1986

Still in the slow lane… but now tougher. That’ll be down to Adrian Sherwood and the Tackhead gang being all over this one. A wicked sound that certainly got spun by me at Winkles back in the day – and would have cleared the floor – should there have been anyone on there at the time.

At a Mark Stewart and the Maffia sound system thing in Luton once, I remember briefly trying to engage the man in conversation. Whatever the reason, he reeeally wasn’t too forthcoming… so it seemed best to abandon the mission. Him covering David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto might seem unlikely but although we’re assuming he was a fan of the original, a little part of me wonders whether he might just have despised it. Either way, the man is still cutting it. 🙂

It’s a reasonably safe bet this will be the only BB tune to crop up on 41 Rooms but it caught me at a time when I needed a pick up. Aurally uplifting, it’s a great example of remixes doing their finest. In this case, a rather pedestrian (and slower) track gets taken on a journey into something far more vibrant. Come on down, Dancin’ Danny D!

Weller thumping out a political rant that is the thinking of millions. A tough sounding dance track, so yet another spun in Winkles.

01.50.29

TALKING HEADS – Life During Wartime – Fear Of Music, LP – Sire 1979

In my world there aren’t many album sides that stand as good as this one.

01.53.51

THE AU PAIRS – Set Up – Playing With A Different Sex, LP – Human Records – 1981

A few days after this track was set-listed here I turned on the laptopTVtellybox to drop straight in on the band performing it on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1981… and it seemed both like yesterday and a hundred years ago. And re albums and sides thereof. See above.

I put down a love I’ve got for these sort of ‘isolated’ releases to having gotten into music through 7″ singles in the early 70s. Back then I’d buy bunches of second hand vinyl and a fair amount were from acts who never did anything else noteworthy. Move on another millennium, and nothing’s changed. I still get a buzz out of a single tune with nothing else to say… and this is such a single. A fab instrumental, on clear vinyl and a 10″, by… whoever… and their only ever release. A perfect record, in more ways than one… so – at no more than £1 each – I picked up another couple of copies through the years.

Incidentally, I did a quick Google spell check on ‘millennium’. 133 million hits… but 50 million plus say it’s ‘millenium’. One of the down sides of letting the public loose…

Episode Archive

Episode 52 – 4.2.18

PLAYLIST 52 Uploaded Feb 4, 2018 41 Rooms’ Playlist 52 is 91% vinyl friendly. Near perfect The tracks marked * have been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/etc. Lyric of Playlist 52: ‘Getting Up Is Not As Easy As Getting Down […]

Episode 51 – 7.1.18

PLAYLIST 51 41 Rooms’ Playlist 51 is 85% vinyl friendly. Impressive. Have a cuppa! The tracks marked * have been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/etc and one track certainly is very sonically challenged. Lyric of Playlist 51: Mudriczki and Mackenzie tie. ‘You know I’ve been blinded out on a […]

Episode 49 – 10.12.17

PLAYLIST 49 41 Rooms’ Playlist 49 is 89% vinyl friendly. Impressive. Any track marked * has been given a tiny 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/etc… Lyric of Playlist 49: Sometimes you’ve just got to keep it simple, real and heartfelt. Come on down, Daniel V. 00.41 NEW ORDER – Ruined In A Day (Reunited In A Day […]

Episode 47 – 12.11.17

PLAYLIST 47 41 Rooms’ Playlist 47 is 85% vinyl friendly. Impressive. Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/etc… Lyric of Playlist 47: ‘A knife and a fork, a bottle and a cork. That’s the way to spell New York.’ Of course it is. 00.41 NEW ORDER – […]

Episode 46 – 29.10.17

PLAYLIST 46 41 Rooms’ Playlist 46 is 88% vinyl friendly. Impressive. The Hurricane Ophelia Set! A day after I uploaded show 45 I experienced my first hurricane. Mostly, it wasn’t what some experience in other parts of the world but with no internet my time was best spent getting show 46 under way early. In […]

Episode 45 – 15.10.17

PLAYLIST 45 41 Rooms’ Playlist 45 is 90% vinyl friendly. Near perfect. Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/etc… Lyric of Playlist 45: Their styles and the worlds they’ve written in feel lifetimes apart but it’s a dead heat between Hal David and Alex Turner. 00.41 NEW […]

Episode 44 – 1.10.17

PLAYLIST 44 41 Rooms’ Playlist 44 is 83% vinyl friendly. Impressive. Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/etc… and a few sound a bit sonically challenged. Lyric of Playlist 44: It goes to the late JL… and that’s without feeling particularly spiritual myself. 00.41 NEW ORDER – […]

Episode 40 – 6.8.17

PLAYLIST 40 41 Rooms’ Playlist 40 is 96% vinyl friendly. Sooooo close! Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/whatever… Lyric of Playlist 40: A slight cop out but a bit of consciousness from the the brothers gets it. and a cursory nod to the ‘Title of Playlist’ […]

Episode 39 – 23.7.17

PLAYLIST 39 41 Rooms’ Playlist 39 is 94% vinyl friendly. Near perfect. Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/whatever… and Please Note: This edition certainly has one track with a few profanities. If you’re of a certain disposition, be aware. Lyric of Playlist 39: G-SH’s, here in the […]

Episode 38 – 9.7.17

PLAYLIST 38 41 Rooms’ Playlist 38 is 87% vinyl friendly. Impressive. Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/whatever… Lyric of Playlist 38: ‘Do you work at a job you despise? Do you live with cockroaches? Have you been mugged lately? Did your favorite jeans shrink in the wash? […]

Episode 37 – 25.6.17

PLAYLIST 37 41 Rooms’ Playlist 37 is 93% vinyl friendly. Near perfect. Will we get there one day? Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or sometimes, slightly bigger) 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop/whatever… and a couple of tracks are slightly sonically challenged. Lyric of Playlist 37: For the sheer cockiness – ‘Leeds… Detroit… Berlin… New […]

Episode 36 – 11.6.17

PLAYLIST 36 41 Rooms’ Playlist 36 is 83% vinyl friendly. Impressive. Just so you know, one or two tracks are slightly sonically challenged. Lyric of Playlist 36: The Speeka boys maybe speak best here… 00.41 NEW ORDER – Age Of Consent – Power, Corruption & Lies, LP – Factory Records – 1983 Lead track from the album […]

Episode 34 – 14.5.17

PLAYLIST 34 My niece’s growing love of vinyl meant acquiring her first means of playing the stuff – so, for this edition it’s one of these! 41 Rooms’ Playlist 34 is 76% vinyl friendly. Not bad. A Word Of Warning: A couple of tracks in this show are slightly ‘sonically challenged’. Tracks marked * have been […]

Episode 29 – 5.3.17

PLAYLIST 29 41 Rooms’ Playlist 29 is 79% vinyl friendly. Not bad. NB: One of the tracks is a bit sonically challenged, though it seems like it was just recorded that way… and the show nearly got abandoned when I lost the whole audio on Thursday afternoon and had to start from scratch again… not good, […]

Episode 25 – 8.1.17

PLAYLIST 25 41 Rooms’ Playlist 25 is 93% VINYL FRIENDLY. Near perfect. OK, ears! One track is sonically challenged with some bad language and another is… well, just sonically challenged. ‘Lyric’ of Playlist 25: It could have been the hip hop dons cutting and pasting George Bush Sr to great effect, or indeed Master Morrissey […]

Episode 24 – 25.12.16

PLAYLIST 24 41 Rooms’ Playlist 24 is 80% VINYL FRIENDLY. Impressive. Lyric of Playlist 24: ‘It’s alright ’cause the historical pattern has shown, how the economical cycle tends to revolve… ‘ Catchy! You’re in a different space when you layer a cheery tune with this level of observation on recession. 00.00 (Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – […]

Episode 21 – 13.11.16

PLAYLIST 21 41 Rooms’ Playlist 21 is 90% VINYL FRIENDLY. Near Perfect. Lyric of Playlist 21: At least I’ve avoided giving it to the late Billy Mac once again… ‘Feel it’s time to pull away, shut your ears to all they say, be yourself you know it’s true, when in the end what’s left is you.‘ […]

Episode 20 – 30.10.16

PLAYLIST 20 41 Rooms’ Playlist 20 is 81% VINYL FRIENDLY. Impressive. Lyric of Playlist 20: ‘Crack may seem cool, it may seem good, it’s the quickest way to kill a neighbo(u)rhood‘. Different era, different means, but no doubt some equivalent result going on somewhere right now. Tracks marked * have been given a tiny (or […]

Episode 16 – 4.9.16

PLAYLIST 16 41 Rooms’ Playlist 16 is 82% VINYL FRIENDLY. Impressive. There’s a bit of a croaky voice and fuzzy head thing going on in this show, apologies. I had to record it at 6.30am when I woke and felt a cold and my voice wavering a bit. It was either that or risk not […]

Episode 12 – 10.7.16 (inc Winkles 1981, Pt 3. More Big Guns)

PLAYLIST 12 is 97% VINYL FRIENDLY. Near perfect! Lyric of Playlist 12: Grandma, your generation believed in talk. Scared of the very steps in which you walked. Father listened to all that was said, until depression set in, leaving mouths unfed… A bit of conscious soul wins it over what could have been here – […]

Episode Nine (inc Winkles 1981: Pt 2) – 29.5.16

PLAYLIST 9 is 93% VINYL FRIENDLY. Near Perfect. Lyric of Playlist 9: ‘Each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings, the horizon leans forward offering you new space to place new steps of change… ‘ Could only be with the poetess… 00.00 (Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983 Episode #1 […]

Episode Eight – 15.5.16

PLAYLIST 8 is 85% VINYL FRIENDLY. Impressive. In memory of Rob Gretton, who died seventeen years ago today (May 15). Lyric of Playlist 8: Where’s the harm in voicing your doubt? You’ll find me in the lavatory. And where’s the harm in talking out loud, when I’m on my own? What’s so wrong with reading […]

Episode Six (inc Winkles 1981: Pt 1) – 17.4.16

PLAYLIST 6 is 93% VINYL FRIENDLY. Near perfect. Lyric of Playlist 6: A bit of a tease. The verses either side of ‘But whatever is behind the door, there is nothing much to do. Angel or devil I don’t care. For in front of that door, there is you.’ Tracks marked * have been given […]

Episode Five – 3.4.16

PLAYLIST 5 is 86% VINYL FRIENDLY. Excellent. Lyric of Playlist 5: ‘Television, the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation. T.V. It satellite links our United States of Unconsciousness. Apathetic, therapeutic and extremely addictive, the methadone metronome pumping out 150 channels 24 hours a day, you can flip through all of them, and still […]

Episode Four – 20.3.16

PLAYLIST 4 is 97% VINYL FRIENDLY. Unlikely it will get any better than that! A Word Of Warning Certainly one track in this show is ‘sonically challenged’… and it’s also the one that contains an expletive or ten. Lyric of Playlist 4: It’s a tie! Either ‘Someone, somewhere says they’ve got it all, but that’s not […]

Episode Three – 6.3.16

PLAYLIST 3 is 85% VINYL FRIENDLY. Impressive. A Word Of Warning: A couple of the tracks in this show are slightly ‘sonically challenged’… and elsewhere an expletive or two will crop up. Lyric of Playlist 3: Maybe unsurprisingly – as it’s a poem – the words to ‘Autumn Rose’. Incorporated into an unknown track in […]

Episode Two – 21.2.16

PLAYLIST 2 is 94% VINYL FRIENDLY. Near perfect. Lyric of Playlist 2: ‘I’ll see you baby when the clans rise again. Women and men united by the struggle going down. With a pocketful of plastic like a dollar on elastic. In this free world. I wouldn’t tell you if I didn’t care’. Tracks marked * […]

Episode One – 7.2.16.

PLAYLIST 1 is 82% VINYL FRIENDLY. Impressive. Lyric of Playlist 1: ‘I wanted to change the world, but I could not even change my underwear. And when the shit got really, really out of hand, I had it all the way up to my hairline, which keeps receding like my self-confidence, as if I ever […]